The present invention provides a method and apparatus for raising and lowering equipment to and from a transport vehicle. The present invention optionally provides a method of weighing the equipment during the raising or lowering operation.
For many years, skids have been used as mounts for a variety of industrial devices, such as, for example, natural gas compressors, packaged natural gas processing plants and generator packages. Typically, the device is mounted on the skid at the manufacturing facility. Because skids often bear devices that must be positioned at remote locations, skids are designed for durability and portability.
The combined weight of the skid and device requires special handling while loading, transporting and unloading the skid. In the past, a crane or other hoist machine was used to load the skid onto a suitable transport for cartage to the remote destination. Once at the destination, the skid and accompanying device are unloaded from the transport onto a suitable pad or platform through use of a crane. Once the skid has been placed on the pad, the crane and transport are removed from the site. Over the life of the device, the skid and device may be moved several times to various remote locations.
Although effective, the conventional method for loading, transporting and unloading the skid suffers several drawbacks. The use of a crane during the loading and unloading of the skid requires that the crane accompany the transport to the remote location. Over the life of the device, it becomes cost prohibitive to employ a crane each time the skid is moved to a new location. Additionally, prior art methods for handling skids have made it difficult or impossible to accurately weigh the skid during the loading or unloading process. Because cargo weight is a crucial factor to be considered during transportation, especially in marine applications, the weight of the skid must be accurately determined.
In light of the foregoing deficiencies in the prior art, there exists a pressing need to develop an efficient and cost-effective means for loading, transporting, unloading and determining the weight of a skid-mounted device.
The present invention provides a method for lifting and lowering equipment. In a preferred embodiment, the equipment is lifted by attaching a plurality of equipment adapters to the equipment, attaching a jack assembly to each of the plurality of equipment adapters, lifting the equipment by simultaneously raising the jack assemblies, moving the transport under the equipment and lowering the equipment onto the transport. The inventive method may be optionally modified to include an additional step of weighing the equipment before lowering the equipment by measuring the amount of force required to hold the equipment in an elevated position.
To practice the inventive method, the present invention also provides an apparatus that includes a plurality of equipment adapters and a plurality of jack assemblies, wherein each of the plurality of jack assemblies is configured for removable connection to a corresponding equipment adapter.